They kicked slowly along. Behind them the Dark moved in uneasy turgid patterns, out and east; the sun crept toward Voy; western rain clouds crawled in long curves. To fill the silence Booce said, "We've finished repairing Logbearer. After breakfast we cruised past the Market-"

"Moving slow. I saw it."

"Clave went for the rest of his seeds, and I picked up some clothing and toothbrushes. Can't have my crew looking like savages."

"My superiors may be wondering where you found the money."

"It's not easy. The Navy's taking its own sweet time to bid a decent price for our metal. But I've got some orders for wood, and my crew is going Dark diving."

"Did Rather say anything about . . . yesterday?"

"Not to me. He didn't seem to want to talk. It must have been a strange experience."

She laug'hed, then grew pensive. Presently she said, "Isn't that Serjent House?"

"Yes, but . . ." Logbearer wasn't there. Booce invited her in. The Navy woman waited while he made the circuit of the rooms. He found nobody. There were no seeds: Clave hadn't arrived yet.

"They must have left already," he told her. "I stayed to bargain for wood. Clave should have come back well ahead of me." It was puzzling.

"Was Rather going with them?"

"No. He should be back soon, wherever he is." She accompanied him to the kitchen and watched while he made tea. They returned to the common room and passed the pot between them, all in near-silence. Booce wondered if Jeffer had noticed the Navy woman. What they really needed right now was a metallic voice bellowing out of the door.

"You'd think he'd leave a message," she said. Booce nodded. But they'd have left it with Jeffer! Murphy was frowning. "Is it normal for Rather to do . . . something like this?"

Booce was quick on the uptake. "He's never done this before. Well, he's been worried about whether the Navy'11 take him. Maybe he got terminally antsy. A trip to the Dark-" And Booce knew he was right. If they think you're undependable- Rather had gone into the Dark.

"-could be just what he needs," he finished. "It's not what we need." Murphy rejected the offered teapot. "How long do you expect them to be gone?"

They weren't seriously hunting treasures such as fringe or blackbrain. All they wanted this trip was mud, so-

"Thirty, forty days." But they wouldn't have left without Clave, so they must have taken the seeds he was carrying too. Why?

"Tell Rather we're unhappy. Booce, I've got to be leaving."

Booce hovered at the door to watch Murphy depart. He whispered, "Jeffer?"

Nothing.

Of course, they took the helmet too. He waited until Sectry was no more than a speck before he opened the compartment in the door.

The whole damn illegal pressure suit was gone.

For one magical moment he was nothing but relieved. But something was going on here, and Booce didn't like it at all.